Saturday 25th March 2017 - Dunston (a)

Glorious!

 It was the last day of winter and the sun had finally appeared in all its warming glory!
Personally, the previous week had been a nightmare with the passing away of one of our pet chickens: and no Pecky was not eaten!
The morning had been spent travelling too and from Durham Hens to purchase two replacements to avoid our remaining chicken, Clucky getting lonely. Flappy and Eggy Pop moved in.
Then came the bad news that The Boy Mark was still waiting for his new dishwasher to arrive and so couldn't drive me to the game! Thankfully, Claire (Little Claire's Mum) came to the rescue and so, along with Mr Twitter, we headed off into the bright afternoon sun.
Memories of the Bay's smash and grab FA Vase Quarter-final victory in 2011 always spring up when I pass the Metrocentre and today was no exception.
Arriving at the ground it was good to meet up with running buddy from NS Poly Running Club (can't type the NS words): the follicly-challenged Bruce. After my last post in February he challenged me to up the interest level as he was a bit bored with the last post. In an effort to appease the fleet-footed one, I thought I'd try the old dinosaur-on-the-pitch routine.

However, maybe all I needed to do was take a picture of Dunston's number 1 fan: Derek the Dunston Dog! If only the coaches listened to his barks more often! (I made up his name BTW: call it poetic licence!)

As it was I needn't have relied on doctored photos and clever animals: the match itself would provide all of the drama you could have asked for.
Early on, Peter the Elf from Rivendale (completely lost on Mr Twitter he's never seen Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit!) was given a start after impressing for the reserves the previous week and he helped set up Robbo, who fired high and wide. The Robster came again and this time his drive was well saved.

shortly after, it was Supermac's turn and his blistering drive was turned over by the bouncing Jack Norton in the Dunston goal. In fact not only was Mr Norton excelling in goal, he was also amusing us with his guidance for the home defence. Shouts of :
"That's the line I want!" and "Get him!", "Get out!", Get up!" could well have been used in the mid 1990s by the likes of the Shamen but unfortunately his defence didn't appreciate that fact as they ignored his stream of shouts.
Next it was Thibault whose one on one effort was saved but the rebound landed perfectly for Kempo, who slid the ball through a crowd into the yawning net. 1-0 to the Mighty Bay.

Dunston bounced back and when the Flying Flynn took out a Dunston forward, he was duly shown the red card. Where was Chow when you needed him? There was no reserve team keeper on the bench so up drove General Patton in his Sherman tank.
Yes it was all up to Supercal to save the day! The visiting fans were not sure about this one.
At half time Supercal was run through his paces by the subs and in between them completely missing the target and smashing the ball quite easily past the hapless Cal, our concerns about Supercal's prowess in goal grew.

Supercal to the rescue?

"In Cal we trust!" turned out to be the motto for the second half and the maestro did not disappoint. The PATtern of play became clear straight away as the PATrons of the UTS Stadium screamed their dissatisfaction with their team. Not wanting to PATronise him, Cal did a sound job. He certainly wasn't a PATsy or a PAT-er-cake, as he raced out to deal with every ball that came his way: with varying degrees of success. He may not have had the PATter of Flynn but he kept the away sheet clean. Like PAT Butcher after her fags, Supercal leapt for every ball with an almost PATernal care for his goal. Not even PATrick Stewart could have driven the USS Enterprise past him. He was inspirational, even though he did look a bit of a PATootie in his Pink shirt. (sorry that one was Mr Twitter's).
Despite Professor Wilko having to clear one off the line, after Supercal's initial save, and Dunston's Liam Thear rattled the crossbar, Supercal was solid.

Sing in the Cheap Seats!

But it wasn't all Dunston. First Kempo's shot was saved then Liam Brooks wriggled into the box like a snake but his effort lacked any pace. Supercal PATted one out of the air with both hands as Dunston grew frustrated. Brooksie could have sealed the win if he had rolled it to Teeny PATton but the chance went begging and out for a throw-in.

Finally, after over 5 minutes of injury time according to Mr Twitter, the full time whistle was blown and the Bay could celebrate the 1-0 win. Supercal certainly deserved the PATs on the back he received! The Bay march on...to a home game no less! When was the last time that happened?

18th February 2017 - Dunston (h)

The big competition to be on the cover of the next Facebook and Twitter Matchday message was won... by yours truly; beating off the stiff competition from the field of one. What a nice way to start the day!
The weather, that had been distinctly spring-like in the morning, unfortunately cooled quite quickly as kick-off approached.
The lads, on the other hand, weren't letting the cooling wind get them down as they started brightly.
First Kyle 'Little brother' Patton bore down on goal but elected to pass instead of shoot and the chance was lost. Then Robbo, hoping for a post-Birthday hat-trick, made the perfect start slotting the ball perfectly between visiting keeper Jack Norton's legs. It was all so quick that I was still consulting the team sheet in the programme when the goal was scored. There was jubilation on the 'packed' terraces.After that bright start, the lads took their foot off the gas and let Dunston get back into the game.

Terrace chaos!

There was a set-to between Dunston's Daryll Hall (not the actress: definitely!) and Robbo the Birthday Boy. The enormous Hall towered down upon Robbo for some shared thinking as he went head to head with his smaller opposition.
The highlight of that period was Callum Anderson's race with a visiting forward for a through ball. It was the Bay player who won the race, exquisitely stepping over the ball on the dead ball line before back heeling it to Professor 'Halftermholiday' Wilkinson to gleefully clear.
Into the second half and the ref adjudged the Prof to have brought down a visiting forward, which from our vantage point at the other end of the field looked a bit harsh. Warren Byrne stepped up and sent the ball low to Flynn's left as he dived right.
The Bay came straight back and when Big Brother Patton (BBP) twisted in the box and was brought down there were calls for our own penalty but the referee (unfairly in our opinion) didn't agree. Soon after, BBP was unlucky to see his header bounce harmlessly off the crossbar after Thibault had headed the ball back across goal.
Yet again, the referee lacked our unbiased distance view as a bout of head-tennis ended with Dunston being awarded another penalty. This time Byrne was outwitted by Flynn as he once again shot to the Bay super-keeper's left who dived to save. Lying on the ground, Flynn still managed to volley clear for a corner that came to nothing.
The lads picked up the pace after that and Norton was leaping to punch clear on a number of occasions as the lads searched for the winner they thought they deserved.
It was also nice to see the visiting Norton winning the day's politeness award. After the ball was collected by one of the Bay fans and passed to him, he gave a respectful "Thank you". He didn't think we really meant it when we applauded him for his great example of manners. His good manners may have been rewarded when substitute Liam Brooks hit the post.
His politeness disappeared, however, when the Bay took the lead in the final minute.

A pinpoint corner from BBP was met by Callum Anderson. Although the final touch was off a defender, nobody cared. For the second match running, the Bay had won 2-1 with a great team performance. The boys were still in town!

5th February 2017 - Bishop Auckland (h)

The lads really hadn't been given their just desserts. They had been finding life tough of late and despite some great play at times, that holy grail of a win was still elusive. Having missed the 4-0 win at Chester-le-Street on Jan 3rd, the Boy Mark and I were desperate to see our first win since November 19th. On the plus side, this young but talented team had continued to show spirit, the last example of which was recovering from being 4-1 down away to Ryhope CW to draw 4-4.

Flat pitch - free of divots. Rollered? 

Today the visitors were high-flying Bishop Auckland so those less optimistic members of the Bay fraternity were a tad fearful coming into the ground. On the supporting side, there was a reunion as our pal Mr Stato, along with Mrs Stato, returned for their first game for ages from stage left and like an American sitcom from stage right appeared the elusive Bob and Moira with the continuation of their tantalising tales of happy retirement. After the pleasantries and welcomes back had been said it was down to the serious business: the pitch. It looked in pretty good nick we thought: at least at our end. Well done Groundoman! (Or woman)

Tangoman:
not happy!

The game kicked off at a typical Northern League pace and rhythm and it was obvious that the lads were not going to let Bishops have things their own way. Desperate to avoid falling behind this week, bodies were being flung at every shot and every ball was being keenly contested. Bishops were in the ascendancy however as the Bay struggled to find their rhythm going forward.
It was great to see Robbo back muscling his way up front and Little Patton was looking bright and confident on the break. However, it was the brightly coloured Bishops, and their tango'd goalkeeper, who took the lead when a backpass to Flynn was completely missed as it bobbled over his foot and Andre Bennett was on hand to score into the empty net. Bobbly pitch?
However another game of pinball ended up with the ball at Robbo's feet and he took his time to calmly slot the ball past Scott 'Orange Tango' Pocklington who was not happy.
But Bishops held the sway so Haley and the Prof were constantly being called into action. My favourite clearance was Haley's header that saw him end up on his knees with the ball still bouncing around him so he dived forward from his kneeling position to head clear. He repeated the trick a few minutes later but this time from a standing position as the pressure mounted.
With half time looming, it was the Bay who had the last shout when a Thibault cross found Kempster whose effort was spectacularly saved. Mr Twitter was on hand to inform me that it was a great save. Thank goodness: I would never have realised!

Into the second half and it was more of the same: Bishops pressing and the Bay hitting on the break. A long ball saw Robbo racing towards Bishops' Tangoman and when the orange one met the ball first it struck Robbo then past the stranded keeper who had to dive at the Bay goalmachine's feet as he shaped to shoot. Penalty shouts were had by all!

Not happy #2

A tackle from Thibault on the Bay's left hand touchline saw the Frenchman booked and Bishops temporarily down to ten men. The Bay took advantage of this and took the lead. Kyle Patton's trickery and cross saw him slide the ball across the box for the Kempstervator to just beat a defender to slot home from two (maybe three) yards. The Bay fans went...wild.

As a result of that goal we were able to post our entry to the Bay's Twitter competition to see pictures of smiling Bay fans. Fingers crossed our effort is received favourably as a place in an upcoming twitter matchday post was at stake.
For the Bishops, the unfortunate Stuart Thompson had to be helped around the outside of the pitch by two visiting officials.
The Bay surged forward as confidence returned to their ranks and Elder Patton had a great freekick that clattered the bar while sub Liam Brooks showed some great skill to create himself space but his attempted shot found the Aldi car park (sort of).

At the final whistle we were delighted to have finally seen a rare victory, 2-1, against one of the top five teams. Also pleasing was a 283 crowd: good considering those funny black and white people were playing to a sellout crowd in the big Toon. Whisper it but the Bay maybe on the up again!

21st January 2017 - Morpeth (h)

The last few years of supporting the Bay have, I have to admit, been hard going. As one of the biggest clubs in the Northern League, I don't think I'm being arrogant in saying this, we have had some pretty lean times since the glory Vase years and 2012 seems a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Having said that, there have been some highs: last season's run in the FA cup being one, but mostly it has been hard going. Just like that team in the big Toon, we are living on distant glories, as Wednesday's 4-0 defeat away to Shildon in the league cup demonstrated.
So, today, I was not relishing the visit of the 'big boys' from Morpeth. Their fanbase is still growing on the back of their Wembley Vase victory and their ground is picturesque but low on capacity. On the pitch they have a strong team that the Bay have struggled to match recently. Two 3-2 defeats at the 'Peth may seem close in scoreline but in the Northumberland Senior Cup especially we were extremely lucky not to lose by more and only some saves from the flying Flynn and last ditch defending from a fearless Bay defence kept the lads in the game.
First topic of conversation: Aldi! Again!! Entering the car park it was once more packed. Saturday Aldi shoppers? Can't you use your own car park? Having just watched the first half hour of my French team RC Lens and witnessed them losing 2-0 at home to the crocodiles from Nimes; I was in an angry, and maybe slightly petty, mood and that was after recovering from the Trumpiness over the pond. Does he realise what his surname actually means in the Queen's English?
However, it was great to see more hard work had been applied to the pitch and the conversation with

Rolled, cut and dedivoted!

Mr Twitter and co turned to the noble state of the pitch: it had been mowed, rolled and.....dedivoted! Bravo to all those who gave up their time and apologies that I wasn't one of them. Sorry.
It was also good to see, for the second home match running the return of Russ: the supporting legend of the Vase era. He was in a fine, lubricated voice too and thoroughly proved my theory that sound can travel faster than light. Managing to organise his work to get to the match was the Bay's gain.
Talk of the pitch turned to the vision of not one but three versions of wrestling's Stone Cold Steve Austin! The bonces of the nearest linesman, referee and Morpeth's Keith Graydon all glinted in the fading afternoon sun to add extra spice to our off-track conversation. This went further off-piste, so to speak, as the subject of the original Steve Austin: the six million dollar man crept in. What were his bionic powers? Later on, the subject of the bionic woman came up and her super powers? Glad to say, Russ could recite the whole of the opening sequence to the original 70s series. Time well spent studying there! Of course a quick search on Google sorted out our conundrum on powers during a quieter moment of the first half.
The lads looked up for the game and were not giving any quarter but still flying Flynn had to be quick off the mark twice in the opening quarter of an hour to race out and clear from advancing strikers. The first occasion, the ball rebounded kindly for the Morpeth forward who shot past Tom but thankfully SuperMac was back to clear off the line. Flynn was then called on to make a fingertip save to keep out another spectacular effort.
The Bay were giving as good they got and new boy Gilbey's run into the box and pass found Peter Glen Ravenhill (PHR). Unfortunately, despite the pitch's good condition, he couldn't pull the ball from out of his feet and his shot lacked power and was easily collected by the green-clad (or was it yellow?) Dryden in the Morpeth goal.
There was better to follow when a bit of magic from both Potter and Thibault ended up with Professor Wilko heading home. Bay in take lead shocker!

It could have been better a couple of minutes later but PHR's shot flashed wide after great work from Tom Gilbey, racing through on the Bay's right hand wing. They were both working hard and almost had their reward.
Our jollity and merriment lasted four minutes before Morpeth's Mark Davidson rose unchallenged to head home. 1-1.  There was time for the mesmerising Gilbey to clear off the line as Morpeth pressed hard for the lead. Still it was better than we had expected: the lads were level at half time and we had taken the lead.
The Bay kept Morpeth waiting so there was plenty of time to discuss the farce that had been South Shields v Morpeth in the FA Vase with my 'Peth fan Keith. He, along with many others, had been stunned when their game had been replayed after 'Peth had just scored to lead 4-2 against 10 men Shields when the floodlights had mysteriously failed. Losing the replayed game 4-0, hastily organised at Morpeth in barely 4 hours, had exacerbated him, although his daughter, Eve didn't seem as concerned and a lot calmer about the affair.
There was more acrobatics from Flynn, saving another one v one, as Morpeth pressed. The visitors were not having everything their own way as two close offsides deprived the Bay of goalscoring chances. However it was Tommy Flynn who was working overtime, acting as an extra sweeper then racing back to make saves on his line. On 77 minutes he performed more heroics as he sprang acrobatically with a diving-swing-spring save to keep the scores level.
Finally, the pressure paid as man of the match Flynn was caught out of position, after another super save, and Sean Taylor scored into the empty section of the goal.
But still the Bay weren't finished and a belter from SuperMacD was palmed away by Dryden.

The 2-1 win hadn't flattered the visitors but the lads had worked hard and all over the pitch there were great signs that the Nash/Woodhouse/Moore era was bearing fruit with a greater emphasis on playing confident football. The aim now is to not to panic and support the management trion both on and off the field and allow them time to develop this young, talented team. If the lads can stay together for next season then all the hard work will be worth it. Just need to get a few wins to get the confidence to go with the hard work. Easy!

Btw: Well done on your Man of December award, Tom Potter! Magic and fully deserved!

7th January 2016 - Seaham Red star (h)

Basically, we owed this lot a return leg pasting. The worst afternoon many of the Whitley faithful had ever witnessed was the 6-1 thrashing at the home of our visitors. Nothing went right that day with crucial injuries and a distinct lack of substitutes meaning a miserable trip home on the first day of October.
My first rant of the day came when we watched a number of cars parking in our car park so their owners could go and visit Aldi. Hasn't the supermarket got its own big car park? I think if someone parks in our car park then they should be made to join us at Hillheads! Where were our hordes going to park their cars? Parking rage got to me!
Mr Twitter had been working imaginatively of late to enhance the Club's Twitter feed and his latest offering was the team sheet picture. Seven of the 11 who had taken the field for the Bay in October were in the starting line-up today and it was nice to see our our own Eiffel Tower of a player, Thibault Charmey, given his place in the starting line up after featuring in a great team performance at Chester-le-Street which saw the Bay win 4-0. Also making his home debut was new signing and Durham Uni student, Tom Gilbey to bring the number of Toms on the team to 3...was this a Bay record?

Thibault tribute flag and also a much improved pitch after hard
work put in by supporters and staff to flatten divots and cut it.

Apparently though it wasn't rolled!

The Tom Trio (and the rest of the team) started brightly and the Bay attack was causing the visitors problems, forcing errors in every position.However, as the half progressed, Red Star began to ease themselves into the game.
Gilbey was looking confident and both he SuperMac were supporting our two wing wizards: Kempster and Potter. Also looking bright was Kyle Patton who was being sent chasing some great balls from big brother Callum. Unfortunately his lack of physical presence meant he generally came out second best to the larger visiting defence.

After 16 minutes, it was our former favourite Birdy Bird who forced Flynn into a great save. This warning wasn't heeded and a few minutes later, Birdy was in on goal. The fit-again Wilkinson challenged him and was penalised by a penalty that Craig Lynch hit low to Flynn's right. Thankfully, the Prof wasn't booked. Next thing we knew, Callum A. was booked for kicking out at a Seaham midfielder as he was disappearing off into the horizon. The game had been turned on its head.
Next Callum Patton did an excellent impression of Superman as he avoided any contact with a defender's foot by flying horizontally over the challenge. The extremely tall linesman was only able to rely on his bird's eye view so he flagged for a penalty. Nice one! As the former Voice of the Bellend put it..."I could have fitted my grandma into that gap..." He's been missed!
Superpatton it was who took the penalty. 1-1

Better was to follow as the Bay went onto the attack again. This time it was Monsieur Charmey who robbed a defender and rolled the ball across the goal. We (me and the Boy Mark) thought that it had hit a divot and bounced past the unhappy Shawn Newbrook in the Seaham goal but it turned out to be Kempster's outstretched foot. A much happier half time crew headed for Tommy's.

Unfortunately just two minutes into the second half, Professor Wilko employed a less than studious tackle to give away another penalty that was confidently dispatched by Lynch again. Seaham went on the offensive and with 18 minutes remaining took the lead. Bradley Staunch powering a header home to make it 3-2. Revenge for October looked unlikely.
Then it was the Bay's turn to wake up for the rest of the match as they battered the visiting defence. Marshalled well by Wilko and Nick Allen, the defence pushed up the pitch as a unit to deny the Seaham midfield any time or space space to operate in and time and again they picked up clearances and began setting up attack after attack. The exhausted Thibault was replaced by Brooks and Callum Anderson by Peter Glen-Ravenclaw sorry, Ravenhill and the visiting defence were creaking. Brooks finished off a great move at the far post only to be denied by the offside flag and Newbrook was being tested from every angle.

Wild scenes of celebration!

With the game looking over, it was Super Gilbey who effortlessly curled the ball past Newbrook's outstretched arm and into the top corner of the net! 3-3: hardly a reward for the possession and effort put in but justly deserved.





As a footnote: Morpeth Town were winning 4-2 at ten man South Shields when the floodlights failed with 7minutes remaining of their FA Vase tie. Did someone forget to put 10p in the meter?

26th December 2016 - West Allotment Celtic (h)

Bossyboots!

The day started with the job of marshalling on the course of the Woodlawn Pudding Run where 900+ runners (fun and otherwise) donned fancy dress (some of them) to raise money for Woodlawn School in Monkseaton. After directing various runners/Christmas puddings / reindeer / Santas / Elves...etc it was a race home to pick up Mrs Bay-Blogger (hyphenated cause she's posh) who was coming for her traditional Boxing Day visit to the Bay. Managing to get in with time to spare, I finish downing a turkey / stuffing / sausage sandwich lovingly prepared by my youngest (for herself and then given to me because she couldn't manage the number she'd made).
My pre-match Boxing Day selfie was censored because Mrs Bay-Blogger had her eyes closed but it was good to have her opinion on the match. Her first insight into the world of Northern League football was that the Celtic keeper, Chris Bannon, was a "bit of a bossyboots": she certainly didn't pull any punches!

A crisp but blowy Boxing Day!

Just as I was noting down her analysis, Celtic scored. Mrs B-B informed me that "it was a corner that was headed back across and was possibly headed in". The perfect analysis...she pays more attention than I do...for once I didn't have to ask Mr Twitter what happened. For the record it was Liam Hudson who did indeed head home.

Return if the Bay bell!

1-0 down after five minutes made Mrs B-B feel at home...she's a Boro fan. One thing was clear, the wind was going to do its best to spoil the game and once again the Bay were struggling against Storm Connor...Barbara had only left on Christmas Eve. As a result Mrs B-B noted that the Bay weren't exactly "bossing the game". Again she was spot on with her analysis as every ball forward was either held up in the wind or fell to a Celtic player. The pitch wasn't helping ether. I presume that after the last time it was cut, which wasn't such a success, it had been left longer. This meant that the lads' attempts at playing football on the ground were being held up by a clingy pitch. Nothing the grounds staff could do about that. Tom Potter, on the wing was struggling to free the ball from its claggy prison (...er of Azkaban: sorry best Harry Potter reference we could think of - it was cold!). A welcome returnee was the famous Bay Bell; which had been missed. However, it wasn't ringing out enough for most people's liking because of the lack of bay attacks.

Magic man gets his reward.

I'd given up writing notes after missing out on the first goal and it was freezing but there was very little happening until a Celtic volley scraped over the crossbar then another Celtic shot came close.
An injury to Callum Anderson, early in the second half, saw him being replaced by Ryan Keltie and the Bay seemed to gain more impetus going forward. Finally Potter was flying more freely down the wing and the Bay's quick passing started to unsettle the hard-working visitors. It was only fitting that the wizard-winger produced a magical finish (I really should stop this, I know: sorry Tom) into the top corner of the net. Soon after the Bay were awarded a freekick and Callum Patton scored, with the help from Mr Bossyboots Bannon.

Surely the Bay would go on to steamroll our near friends? Not exactly! The pitch became heavier as the night drew in... or maybe the players got tired from running through treacle for the last hour; basically, the busy Supermac and Kempster ran out of steam. As a result, chances were at a premium. Our French revolutionary (I certainly don't remember many French players in the Bay team...), Monsieur Charmey and Kyle were brought on and both brought more attacking purpose down the middle of the field. Despite some nearly-could-have-beens and almost-weres, it looked like the game was over and we could celebrate our first win in five games but the wind had the last laugh. A hopeful punt towards goal caught out Tom Flynn as the wind blew it onto the crossbow. The ball dropped onto the touchline and Hudson was on hand to slide it over the line. Not a great way for the Bay to end 2016 but the fight and determination is still there along with a good team spirit and desire to play football. Fingers crossed, the improvement continues in 2017.
Tom Potter was rightly awarded the h2o man of the match!

I would like to wish all my readers a Happy New Year and hope that 2017 treats us all well. Also thank you to all of you who are reading this as I am now averaging an incredible 300-400 readers per blog.
Haway the Bay!

17th December 2016 - Sunderland RCA (a)

As a fan of most things from our Gallic neighbours across the Channel, I was delighted with Nash's signing of ex Paris youth player Thibault Charmey from those great players in the international transfer market: Guisborough Town. There was no way I was going to miss his debut: I could practically smell pain chocolat followed by a fricadelle sandwhich americain (sausage sandwich and chips). Complete with the Bay Tricolore I was grateful to fellow Bell-Ender (without a bell now, sadly), Claire for the lift to Sunderland. The Kinnon joined us on a very dry, crisp but cold day.
There had also been another signing with forward Peter Glen-Ravenhill signing from North Shields after scoring 7 goals in 5 games for the reserves. Both players were named in the subs. Staying put in the defence was David Hall after another successful game against Shildon that had earned him the man of the match award.

The bar...warm it was.

First stop, just to get out of the cold, was to the warm atmosphere of the bar, which was doing great guns on its pies rather tasty, apparently. Preferring to wait until half time (by which time they had run out), I headed out for the pitch to watch the pre-match warm-up. Disappointingly, neither the French maestro nor our hot reservist striker were in the starting line-up but that was only to be expected, I suppose: they have to earn their place.
As far as I can remember, whenever the Bay have played here, we have ended up shooting downhill in the first half and that is just how it turned out today.

Mince of a pie?
Nice!

My memories of previous defeats sprang to mind as the lads struggled. RCA were on the attack from the off and the Bay defence didn't look happy in the continued absence of Prof Wilkinson. It was no surprise when with 10 minutes gone, Stehen Callen coolly slotted past the exposed Tom Flynn. It could have been worse a few minutes later when a suicidal Bay backpass, led to an almighty scramble with Bay bodies being flung in front of the ball and then finally Nick Allen spectacularly clearing the ball first off the line and finally narrowly over the bar.

Not good for Shanksy.....up to 8 weeks
 out with geet hard tissue damage.

There was hope for the Bay as the ex-Alnwick duo of Liam Brooks and Adam Shanks looked to be linking up well. It was the Kempstervator who found himself out of luck however as his efforts were cleared off the line, having twice beaten ex-Bay legend (for ten minutes) Jonathan Carmichael. According to one Bay fan visiting from Malta, he had been indulging in too many of the old pies since leaving.
The second half didn't start well for Whitley's Shankster as he went down under a challenge and couldn't get up...or even roll off the pitch, as one sympathetic soul said he should do.

On came new boy Peter Glen-Ravenhall for his debut and he proceeded to hit both posts with two cracking strikes. It just wasn't to be our day.

The drama once again proved to be off the pitch as a paramedic arrived at the other end of the pitch. Assuming it was for Shanksy, it shut the youngest member of the travelling support for a few minutes, who claimed there was nowt wrong with Mr Shanks and that he'd be playing next week. We watched as the paramedic went one way and Shanks went the other like an episode of the Keystone Cops. It later turned out that one of the Sunderland fans had taken ill and was thankfully taken to hospital in an ambulance that quickly arrived. Shanks would have to make his own way to Cramlington hospital...couldn't see him wanting to be treated at Sunderland General somehow.
Finally, the French Maestro arrived on the pitch but with eight minutes left, it seemed like it was too late. He did have the chance to lay off a couple of good balls to the supporting Peter, Alex and Liam (boyband potential...? Don't think so) and did so calmly and accurately.
The final blow came when Mark Robinson slotted calmly underneath the advancing Flynn. 2-0 final score and once again the lads had been out-fought and out-passed, despite the luck not going their way.

Sad trip home.

What we need is a local derby next....
Have a great Christmas and see you at Hillheads on Boxing Day for the big game!